Monastic Landscape Trail Ebrach

The circular route starts at the monastery in Ebrach and leads through the suburb (former monastic economic buildings) out towards the outdoor pool along Würzburger Straße. We keep left and reach the pond lakes. This chain of ponds dates back to the Cistercians settled since 1127 in the valley of the Middle Ebrach, who used the ponds both for water regulation (flood protection) and for carp farming. From the path, an indulgence ('monk') is visible.

We remain on the path, which eventually takes us uphill to Großgressingen. The monastery's servant settlement with the old monastery tavern still shows its historic structure today. We follow the signposts to the St. Rochus Chapel. Here the plague patients of the monastery were brought (hospital for the sick, later a schoolhouse). From there we continue straight ahead, cross the street - an old street - and follow the paved path in the direction of the former grange Winkelhof (Cistercian economic farm) towards the forest. One follows the route of the old main road and then enters the light forest of the Monastery Münsterschwarzach to the north.

Optional (difficult to walk due to storm damage): At the fork, you can shorten the route by turning onto a gravel path. After about 100 meters, we turn left onto an old dirt path, which then leads us downhill. We reach a gravel path again, which we follow to the left to the ponds at Entenbach. From there, we return on a wide gravel road to Großgressingen.

Main route: We follow the Old Main Road (forest road) to the clearing island Winkelhof - a former forest economic farm of the Cistercians. Today's forester's lodge lies picturesquely between the ponds. The path leads uphill to the left before the pond back to Großgressingen, where at the next opportunity we turn left into a side street and reach the Ebracher Totenweg (historic path between the monastery and St. Rochus) back down to Ebrach, where the monastery comes into view.

Interesting facts along the way:

Monastery and suburb:
The Cistercian abbey founded in 1127 lies at the exit of the valley basin of the Middle Ebrach in an area that was formerly swampy and wooded, as required by the order's regulations. According to the medieval ideal plan, a Cistercian monastery formed an inner monastic district accessible only to monks and clergymen; the outer district, here in the west, was the lay and economic district. Here a so-called "suburb" developed, which today, like the entire complex, is representatively shaped by the Baroque renewal of the monastery.

Hydraulic engineering and fish farming:
The ponds in the Weihergrund were already created by the monks in the High Middle Ages (12th century) to regulate the water supply to the now non-existent monastic mill. Later, the Middle Ebrach was canalized. The water fed the fountain in the abbey garden, supplied fresh water to the monastery, and also served as latrine flushing. In addition, the ponds were used to farm carp and other fish as fasting food for the ascetic monks. Around 1800, the abbey had over 60 hectares of pond area; in the Middle Ages, there were probably even more. Today, many ponds are hardly used anymore.

Großgressingen:
In Großgressingen, the abbey Ebrach, founded in 1127, initially had only a so-called curia, a farm managed by lay brothers (conversi). After acquiring the place in 1247 from the Würzburg Stift Haug, the small place was developed into a servant settlement (26 tenant houses).
The former monastery tavern (built in 1573) was one of five monastery taverns in the monastery's sphere of influence. Only monastery wine was allowed to be served there, and the subjects had to hold their festivities there.

St. Rochus, the plague, and the death path:
The St. Rochus Chapel served on the feast days of its patrons - the plague saints Rochus and Sebastian - as a pilgrimage chapel; otherwise, it was only used as a burial chapel. It stands on the site of the monastery's hospital for the sick, built after the plague years 1584/87. The dead were probably buried in the immediate vicinity. In 1611, Abbot Hieronymus Hölein had a chapel with a cemetery built. The high altar shows an Ascension image of Mary with the two patrons, to whom the side altars are also dedicated. St. Rochus with its high saddle roof and roof turret is visible far into the landscape.

Former hospital for the sick: From the end of the 17th century, the abbey established a school here as part of its pastoral duties. The schoolhouse later served as the teacher's residence, and the new building was used as a school until the 1990s.

The Ebracher Totenweg is the path from Ebrach up to Großgressingen, as the secular employees of the abbey were also buried here and their bodies carried up here.